A. TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to package, packing method and transporting method for brittle sheets and, in more detail, is the art to be put to use for the transportation and storage of very thin and fragile substance subject to break, or brittle sheets, such as ceramic sheets used for the materials of the solid electrolyte membrane for fuel cell.
B. BACKGROUND ART
Ceramic sheets of 100 to 300 .mu.m thick and 100 mm square are used for the said solid electrolyte membrane for fuel cell. The ceramic sheets is made of zirconia and so on, and are difficult to be handled because they are extremely thin and brittle as stated above.
For the purpose of transporting and storing such sheets, sheets were put in a soft bag made of synthetic resin film one by one, or in relatively small amounts, and such bags were wrapped with an air bag sheet or piled up in layers. Or sheets were placed in a state of lamination and covered with paper towels. And then these bags or the sheets in lamination were put into a case such as a paper box.
The sheets are packed separately or in small amounts in order that such brittle and fragile sheets could be free from damage during transportation or storage.
In case the said sheets are going to be transported or stored in large amounts, the process of packing or unpacking a small amount of sheets into or out of a large numbers of bags could require much time or labor. One fuel cell generating system may demand ceramics sheets in a range about 20 to 10000 sheets, or sometimes 50 to 10000 sheets. Therefore, when ceramic sheets are transported to some other place to be used in a generating system, the amount of ceramic sheets to be packed is estimated to reach 400 to 100000 sheets, or 1000 to 100000 sheets. The packing and unpacking processes are assumed to be a big trouble.